An ANBU Tradition
by Desbelleschoses
Summary: Itachi Uchiha joins the ANBU under Kakashi Hatake's command. There's a certain tradition the ANBU has for new recruits, and Itachi is no exception.


Kakashi lay on his back, one knee bent up while the other extended. It was long past the time when he should have replaced his twin mattress with something that would actually accommodate his height. The only way he could fit was by sleeping with his knees bent; stretched out as he was, his head could either rest on his pillow or his ankle could hang off the foot of the bed. He opted for the latter. He held his newest copy of _Icha Icha_ languidly above his exposed face, and his damp, white hair was brushed awkwardly back out of his eyes.

The laundry machine hummed in the background, keeping a steady rhythm as it spun nearly every article of clothing that the young man had to his name. The mission assigned to his ANBU squad took them weeks to complete, and his already spartan apartment was even more barren with its lack of basic necessities upon his return. Even so, the amenities that remained were a godsend for his right-hand man.

Without looking away from the pages of his book, he could see his towel-clad companion standing in front of the chest of drawers. Before he could ask, Kakashi instructed him, "Just take whatever's there that'll fit."

Even if Kakashi had kept his clothing from three years ago, his broad shoulders and tall frame had always left Tenzo in his shadow. "Don't you have anything that's not made for a giant?" he asked snidely as he pawed through the drawers one-by-one.

"You're the one who decided to wash everything you own," Kakashi drawled as he turned the page. "Make do."

Much to Tenzo's relief, Kakashi hadn't taken the only pair of drawstring sweatpants. The fabric bunched awkwardly at his hips as he pulled the strings to fit, tying them into a lazy knot. The legs were too long, and he had to be careful not to trip himself on the excess. As he dug for a shirt, he took his towel in one hand and began to dry his long, brown hair. He wanted to complain that he didn't have ready access to laundry services or a private shower, but he was worried that Kakashi, out of petty spite, would bar him from using the ones in his apartment until he apologized. It wouldn't be the first time.

The smallest shirt Tenzo found hung to the middle of his thighs, and if he held his arms out to his sides, it looked like a black bag instead of proper clothing. Unable to help himself, he frowned. "I look like a child."

"Sixteen going on six," Kakashi smirked as he snapped his book shut, a strange sight without his mask. He righted himself on his bed, crossing his legs in front of him.

Tenzo balled up his towel and threw it across the room, and Kakashi caught it with ease. With a toss, it landed in the empty laundry basket. Sarcasically, he began, "Thank you, Kakashi. You're doing my laundry and let me use your shower, and you even called in some dinner. You're the best captain ever!"

Tenzo made a lewd gesture, but there was playfulness in his eyes. "Fuck you, Senpai."

To his surprise, Kakashi laughed. There was no way Kakashi could take him seriously dressed the way he was. Tenzo growled in indignation. He reached behind him and grabbed something from the dresser, throwing it at the white-haired man. "And put a damned shirt on, Hatake."

Kakashi's laughter faded into a chuckle that wouldn't go away, even as he did as he was told. Tenzo had a feeling that Kakashi made those infuriating smirks and grins just as often on any other day, but that the expressions were hidden by his mask. He snatched the file folder of the kitchen table and walked over to Kakashi, taking a seat facing him on the mattress. He held it up and smacked his captain's forehead with it. "We have work to do."

Kakashi took the file and opened it. While he examined the pages, he set an elbow on his knee and bent over, his chin in the palm of his hand as he read. "Itachi Uchiha…" he mused, unclipping the child's photograph from the file. "He's young."

"Not for our squad," Tenzo corrected as he examined the score card. "He's ten. Graduated to genin at six, like I did, and just a year after you. You joined at twelve, right? And Danzo had me in the foundation since I was five. It only looks that way because you're old."

"I'm nineteen."

"Exactly."

Kakashi took a swing at Tenzo's head, which he narrowly dodged. "Lord Hiruzen appointed him. Good. We need to keep him away from Danzo until Itachi can manage on his own." He traded Itachi's photograph for the card Tenzo held. "He's strong. From the looks of it, he should be able to keep up rather well. We won't know for sure until we see him in action, though."

Tenzo looked up and over, large eyes narrowing in suspicion. "No."

The devilish grin Kakashi gave sent a chill down his spine, a thousand times more powerful now that it could be seen. "It's a tradition."

"Absolutely not, Senpai. Yugao still has nightmares, and she's fifteen. Lord Hiruzen would kill you!"

"Us."

"What?"

"Us. You don't think I can pull this off on my own, do you?"

Tenzo drug his palm down the side of his face. "Kakashi…"

Clearly, this approach wasn't working. Slyly, he reached out and grabbed Tenzo's wrist, moving it away from his face. With his best puppy-dog eyes – which he'd long since perfected – he only had to say one word. "Please?"

Using both hands to cover his reddened face, Tenzo groaned, his head falling back against the wall in agony. "God, I hate you."

"No, you don't," Kakashi retorted flatly as he thumbed through the rest of the file.

* * *

The standard-issue ANBU mask covered the dark circles under Tenzo's eyes, much to his relief. He'd been kept up far too late while Kakashi made his plan, and his captain refused to let him doze off until he understood it thoroughly. By the time he was finally allowed to sleep, he'd managed to get in about four hours before Kakashi woke him by going about his morning routine. His senpai's late-to-bed, early-to-rise habits were excruciating, but at least Kakashi decided to sleep that night rather than staying up until dawn.

If he was lucky, this would all be over soon, and he could get some much-needed rest. He stifled a yawn, refusing to show weakness around the rest of the team. Absentmindedly, he wondered if he could put down literal roots to keep himself standing.

To his displeasure, when Kakashi informed their teammates of his plan, they had all readily agreed. Even Yugao, who had suffered just a few months ago, gave her support. Ko and Yoji delighted in the ANBU tradition, and so Tenzo's voice of protest was lost. All the same, there was a part of him that looked forward to it just as much as the others, even though he'd never admit it. He just wished he could hide it from Kakashi's keen perception.

When their newest comrade stepped through the door, Tenzo wondered if he'd looked just as comical in his ANBU gear when he was that age. It fit Itachi, but the sight of the small, gaunt child in black ops armor was ironic. In his hand, he held a small mask, one he had no doubt just been issued. Impressively, the Uchiha carried himself without fear, facing his seniors like equals.

Kakashi stepped forward from the front of the group, removing his patterned ANBU mask. He held it in his left hand as he placed his hands on his hips, looking down at his new charge. He watched as Itachi followed propriety and bowed, introducing himself in a yet-unbroken voice. "My name is Itachi Uchiha."

Only when he stood back up did Kakashi speak. "I'm your new captain, Kakashi. Welcome to Team Ro." He placed his mask back on his face as he continued. "It's a tradition here at the ANBU for new members to go on a mission with their team on the first day. Sink or swim, if you will. If you don't think you can keep up, leave now."

Itachi looked his captain in the eye, emotionless, and placed his mask on his face. Beneath his own, Kakashi smiled.

"Good. Yugao, brief him."

The single woman of the group stepped forward, a map in her hands. She spread it out on the table and drew a gloved finger across the parchment as she spoke. "We've been assigned to stop a squad of Suna ninja from crossing the border. They seem to be a small group of scouts, but we can't risk letting them get any information on our territory." She looked up from the map to catch Itachi's eye. "The third war might be over, but we can't let our guard down."

"Understood." Itachi nodded, the perfect little soldier.

"Now that we have an even number, we can operate with pairs." Kakashi began to gesture to members of the team. "Yugao, I want you with Itachi. You'll be our sensory unit. Ko and Yogi, you'll be the decoy team. Tenzo's with me for acquisition.

Ko and Yogi, I want you to forge a straight path, passing the shrine. Tenzo and I will take a wide berth and block any retreat into the sand. Yugao and Itachi, you'll come in from the side."

"Got it!" the team chorused.

* * *

Yugao was pleasantly surprised by Itachi's speed. Despite his small stature, he was able to keep her pace, never faltering. So far, so good. She didn't say as much, withholding any praise until the end of the mission. It was common for new recruits to become overconfident, and overconfident ninja made mistakes.

There was a twinge on the edge of her consciousness, most likely emanating from foreign chakra. She held her path, giving Itachi less than a second to pick it up for himself. Really, she should have expected nothing less from one of Lord Hiruzen's hand-picked agents.

"Here." Itachi veered to the east without breaking his stride. He didn't know what the strange chakra signature meant, but it was too foreign to belong to something of the forest. He'd been on enough scouting practice missions with his father to know he'd found something.

Yugao turned and headed in the same direction, pleased that he'd passed her test. Maybe the kid would make it to his next birthday, after all.

The sound of metal hitting metal reverberated through the trees. Yugao picked up two familiar chakra signatures – those of Ko and Yogi – as well as a muddled, concealed trace of someone trying to hide their presence. "Shit," she swore under her breath. With a few powerful leaps, she put herself ahead of Itachi. "Keep close!" she ordered, unable to spare a glance over her shoulder to make sure he heard.

Itachi did as he was told. At this speed, it was more difficult for him to keep up, but as they moved, he sensed the skirmish as well. His new comrades were clearly in danger. Yugao remained in his line of vision as he pushed himself to go faster. Then, in an instant, she was gone.

The only sign of her was a flash of her purple hair as she somersaulted when her body hit the ground. Itachi dropped down, ricocheting himself from branch to branch along the ancient trees, earning himself a much softer landing. When his feet hit the ground, Yugao finished cinching the cloth bandage she'd wrapped around her forearm. He could see her blood, but it didn't appear to be serious.

"Let's go," she ordered, her eyes scanning their surroundings. "They know we're here. We need to get to Ko and Yogi."

A kunai flew out of the forest and impaled itself in a tree trunk, millimeters from Itachi's face. He rolled to dodge the attack, which was far from the last. He caught sight of a Suna nin hiding in the trees. From his black sunglasses and cloth-covered face, he seemed to also be a member of a black ops organization. Itachi's hands flew as he formed familiar signs and took a deep breath; from his mouth erupted a ball of fire twice the size of his body in height alone.

The Suna ninja was forced out of hiding, right into Yugao's trap. Her blade struck against the kunai in the Suna ninja's right hand, which he held above his face. A swift kick to the abdomen knocked Yugao off her balance.

Itachi's eyes spun red in anticipation, willing the enemy to meet his gaze. If he could only trap him in his genjutsu, they could farm him for information in a matter of seconds. However, luck was not on his side. In his moment of distraction, the enemy formed the hand signs for the Earth Flow Divide jutsu. A little too late, Itachi fled the ground beneath his feet. His fingers clung with desperation to the ledge in front of him, willing himself not to look down at the chasm awaiting his fall.

His small hands grabbed on to the thick tree roots, now exposed from the earth along the divide. It was enough to support the weight of a full-grown man, and Itachi pulled himself out with ease.

With a sickeningly wet sound, the Suna ninja jerked his kunai down and out of Yugao's stomach. Her hands clutched desperately at the wound, but the blood pooling at her feet was already too much. She fell face-first into the grass, and Itachi's shout was animalistic as he charged the enemy, ready to kill.

He was knocked to the ground, where he slid across the earth for several meters before coming to a stop. To his horror, a second ninja, dressed like the first, deposited two lifeless bodies at his companion's feet.

In a voice like sandpaper, the second ninja taunted scornfully, "And then there was one. Should we let him run home with his tail between his legs?"

The first shook his head and rushed Itachi. The screeching noise that pierced Itachi's ears was not, as he first thought, an auditory symptom of fear. In a streak of blue light, his captain jumped down, placing himself between Itachi and his attacker. With his lightning blade, Kakashi sent an electrical current through the kunai he caught with his bare hand. Instinctively, the Suna ninja dropped his weapon.

"Go!" Kakashi barked at his subordinate, who did as he was told.

Itachi ran past Tenzo, who threw up a protective wall of earth in his wake. He kept running, as fast as he could, but he wasn't quick enough. A third Suna operative caught him with a sharp blow to the head, and he fell before his surroundings went black.

* * *

When he awoke, Itachi was greeted by darkness. His hands were bound behind his back, and he could feel the fabric of a blindfold against his forehead and cheekbones. He picked up Kakashi's chakra nearby. It was faint, but it was there. He found reassurance in the fact that he wasn't alone. "Captain?" he whispered, taking a risk.

A short, sharp hiss sounded to his right, a signal to remain silent.

The first Suna ninja's hazy chakra entered the… wherever they were, and Itachi heard the sound of skin violently hitting against skin. He heard Kakashi spit and smelled iron. In the same, coarse voice, the ninja demanded, "I'll ask you one more time. How did you track us?"

Kakashi growled deep in his chest, "I'd rather die."

"You will, but not yet." The menacing chakra moved in front of Itachi. "I want you to regret coming after us. You're going to watch me kill the last kid on your squad before I leave you for the animals." A fist lifted Itachi off the ground by the right strap of his armor.

He had to think fast. Itachi lifted his left shoulder and drug his face across it; once was all he needed. His red eye locked on to his attacker, who immediately let him go. Itachi maintained his genjutsu hold as he righted himself. The man screamed.

It was then that Itachi allowed himself to slip inside the nightmare. The Sand ninja hung limply from a cross. A single black crow cried out and landed on Itachi's shoulder as he approached the man, his sharingan eyes cruel and calculating. With a swift flick of his wrist, he tore away the man's cloth mask and glasses out of a desire to see the man who killed his teammates in his suffering.

Itachi staggered back in shock, the genjutsu broken. His captor fell to his knees, gasping for air. Itachi was enraged. In a voice too big for his small body, he snarled, "What the hell is going on here, Captain?!"

"Swear like that again, and we'll have your mother wash out your mouth." Yugao's voice came from behind him, and he felt a kunai cut through his bindings. As soon as he was free, Itachi snatched off his blindfold.

In front of him sat Kakashi, who had removed his Suna garb, holding his head in his hands. The Kakashi to Itachi's right went up in a cloud of smoke, leaving Tenzo in his place. So, it was a transformation jutsu. His body was shaking in anger when Ko and Yogi joined the rest of the squad. His eyes, still blazing red, narrowed. "Explain," he ordered, as though they saw him as a threat.

Tenzo had rushed to Kakashi's side, one hand on his back and the other on the front of his shoulder to steady him. He scolded his captain in a low tone, and words like 'told you,' 'idiot,' and 'your ass' reached Itachi's ears. Kakashi lifted his head when his body recovered from the effects of the genjutsu.

"It's an ANBU tradition to haze new recruits," Kakashi explained. "We put Yugao through something similar when she joined, only she was forced to 'kill' Ko."

"Shadow clone," Ko added, trying to be helpful.

"I wasn't expecting you to be able to use your sharingan," Kakashi protested, almost pouting. "It seems like _someone_ didn't tie it tight enough." His eyes flicked toward Tenzo.

"No. You know what? No. You hit me in the face. You _actually_ hit me in the face." Tenzo resisted the urge to smack Kakashi upside the head.

Itachi looked on, unamused. He was frustrated, angry, and relieved all at once. " _Never_ ," he snarled, leveling each of his comrades with a look, "do something like that to me again."

"Easy, kid. It's a one-time-thing," Yogi waved his hand. "You made it. You're in."

Kakashi smiled behind his mask. "Welcome to the ANBU, Uchiha."

* * *

"Stop moving." Kakashi grabbed the side of Tenzo's head, trying to keep him still. He lifted the cotton ball to the cut on Tenzo's cheek once more, and he flinched.

"It stings," Tenzo complained. He clawed indignantly at Kakashi's hand, which had taken a handful of his hair as an incentive to keep him in place.

"It's worth it."

"Easy for you to say, Jackass. I didn't hit you."

"I told you I'm sorry. I misjudged the distance."

"Sure you did," Tenzo snapped sarcastically. "Now let me go."

Kakashi made a noise of disapproval, keeping his hold on him. "Not yet. Have to make sure it's clean."

Tenzo sighed, his patience wearing thin. "I don't know why I put up with you."

"There's a list. Should I go chronologically or alphabetically?" Kakashi's grip finally loosened, and he began to pack away the med kit which sat open on his kitchen table.

Tenzo got to his feet, radiating annoyance at Kakashi's callousness. Without a word, he started for the door, but Kakashi caught him by the fabric of his shirt.

"Kakashi-"

"You said my name."

"Yes."

"You're mad at me."

"Yes."

Silence fell as Tenzo waited for Kakashi to say something or let him go. He did neither for several seconds. Finally, he let go and trudged over to his bed, where he sat with his legs crossed and back against the wall. His eyes met Tenzo's back as he spoke. "I didn't listen to my voice of reason." Another pause. "You were right."

"I know." Tenzo's words were flat, but he had turned around.

Kakashi thought for a moment. "Would it make it even if I let you punch me in the face?" The look in his eyes showed he was serious. He was so far off the mark that Tenzo couldn't keep himself from laughing. The white-haired ninja arched an eyebrow at his reaction.

"No, Senpai. I'm not that petty."

"Oh, good. I was worried for a minute."

"And Senpai?"

"Yes?"

"Next time, we use my plan."


End file.
